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Well, yes, it has been a goodly while since the last missive. There are some exciting happenings on the event horizon, so let’s get right to it.

Afore I forget, my “First Recital in Forever” will take place on Mother’s Day, May 10 at Roosevelt University’s famous Ganz Hall in Chicago at 430 S. Michigan Avenue, 7th floor. It’s free, at 3pm, and will feature not one but two world premieres. More on this below.

For anyone who is interested (and 4 out of 5 dentists are), my performance schedule for the the near future is:

Sunday, March 29, Red Line Tap, Chicago, IL, 4pm

Gunnelpumpers comes out of hibernation to share a Sunday matinee performance with whitewolfsonicprincess (WWSP) and other variety show acts. I’ve temporarily taken over bass playing duties with WWSP, so it’ll be a busily enjoyable afternoon.

Sunday, April 12, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie, IL, 3pm

Ars Viva Symphony performs Nielsen, Waxman, and Symphony No. 2 by Serge Rachmaninoff. I still remember performing the Rachmaninoff with Vilem Sokol and the Seattle Youth Symphony back in the day. Such a great piece, and will be performed by an outstanding group. Hit me up if you’re interested in attending.

Sunday, April 19, Pick Staiger Concert Hall, Evanston, IL, 7pm

Chicago Philharmonic performs great works of Spanish and French composers, including Debussy’s spellbinding La Mer (The Sea) and Ravel’s Piano Concerto for Left Hand. There has been a lot of speculation on what soloist Jorge Federico Osorio will be doing with his right hand during this performance, but twirling a drumstick is the odds-on favorite. This is a superb orchestra.

Sunday, April 26, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie, IL, 3pm

Sunday, May 10, Ganz Hall, Chicago, IL, 3pm

May 10 is Mother’s Day, and what better way to celebrate it than with brunch and a bass recital (brunch not included). This is my first recital since, ahem, skinny ties were in vogue and nirvana meant only a blissful state, thus the “First Recital in Forever” moniker. This, presumably, will be my one and only First Recital in Forever, and forever is a very long time, especially in dog years.

It’s an ambitious and challenging project, but I am so excited about the beautiful 2006 Sergio Scaramelli bass acquired last fall that something had to be done about it. The first half will consist of two wonderfully lyrical works: Rossini’s Duet for ‘Cello and Bass with the inimitable Mark Lekas, and my first performance of Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata in A minor with the supremely talented Michael Miller on piano. The second half will exclusively feature works by Michael Miller and myself, including the world premieres of Michael’s “Insomnia” for solo bass and my “Waltzscherzo” for six basses to be performed by an unnamed group. (Really, it doesn’t yet have a name.)

Sunday, May 17, North Shore Center for the Performing Arts, Skokie, IL, 3pm

Ars Viva Symphony final concert of the season consists of works inspired by the plays of Shakespeare. As always, let me know if you are interested in going. This is a superb orchestra. http://arsviva.org/concerts/#5

Friday, May 22, 27 Live, Evanston, IL, evening

whitewolfsoniceprincess opens for the The Rolling Clones, a great cover band of you know you. Percussionist and Gunnelpumpers co-founder Randy Farr will be jamming with both groups.

Sunday, May 31, Red Line Tap, Chicago, IL, 4pm

Gunnelpumpers comes out of hibernation AGAIN to share a Sunday matinee performance with whitewolfsonicprincess (WWSP) and other variety show acts. This could become a regular thang, so c’mon out and represent!

Saturday, June 13, Uncommon Ground (Devon), Chicago, IL, evening

Gunnelpumpers (no longer in hibernation) and WWSP will be sharing the bill at the wonderful Uncommon Ground on Devon.

Sunday, June 21, Bellingham High School Auditorium, Bellingham, WA, 3pm

Not only will I be doing a special concert on Mother’s Day, but Father’s Day as well, for which both of my wonderful parents will also be in attendance. I’m overjoyed to be participating in the Bellingham Music Club’s all-star Gala Concert with my brother Jeffrey (all the way from Spain) and many other dear friends and colleagues with whom I started making great music with way back in the day.

A live recording of Gunnelpumpers at Phyllis’ Musical Inn in Chicago on August 30, 2012. We were the only group playing that night, and performed two sets. Excluding the pescatarians in the group, the lot of us ate a lot of fine barbecue between sets next door at The Smoke Daddy and probably overdid things in that respect.

One of our best shows. This live performance was recorded on January 26, 2013, at Gallery Cabaret in Chicago, Illinois. The evening opened with a sets from Christina Trulio and whitewolfsonicprincess. Bassist Douglas Johnson, who organized the event, performed with all three groups.The Gunnelpumpers set was one of the loudest on record, and prompted complaints from some of Gallery Cabaret’s neighbors. It was also the first Gunnelpumpers set to feature two electric guitarists, which might explain the roudness. This was the last time we worked with soundman Garrett Lane at the Gallery Cabaret, since he and the bar had a parting of ways not long after this show. He was always a big proponent of what we do, as evidenced by his “God Bless the Gunnelpumpers!” at the end of Track 4 Fabula Rasa.

This live performance was recorded on February 17, 2013, at The Whistler in Chicago, Illinois. The evening opened with the Gunnelpumpers set, followed by one from Crown Larks, who were busy at the time recording their debut CD.

To see all of our live recordings online, go to http://gunnelpumpers.com/live/ or click Live under the Recordings menu. Clicking a musician’s name will display all of the live shows that individual performed on.

Gunnelpumpers is thrilled to be releasing our fourth CD, the 19-track “Montana Fix”, this coming Wednesday. The official event will happen at Martyrs‘ at 3855 N. Lincoln Avenue of our fair city, Chicago. The cover is only $7 and anyone age 17+ may attend!

If you can’t be there, consider showing your support by purchasing the CD just about anywhere online (our favorite is Bandcamp), friend us on Facebook, or support your local live music scene and musical innovators.

Also performing Wednesday will be The Ham Council, for whom this is also a release party for their new CD, “you need to work on your character flaws”, as well as the touring Sophistafunk from Syracuse, NY. Sophistafunk leader Adam Gold is owner of the renowned Funk ‘n Waffles in Syracuse, and both the restaurant and the band were recently featured on FoodTV’s DDD. Sophistafunk is a trio consisting of synth bass/keys, drums, and rapper.

8:00 Gunnelpumpers
9:00 The Ham Council
10:00 Sophistafunk

Gunnelpumpers is thrilled to have original member, percussionist Doug Brush, join us Wednesday. He is visiting all the way from New Zealand for his parents 50th wedding anniversary and the timing for us could not have worked out better. Also playing this night will be Bob Garrett on drum kit, Randy Farr on percussion, Michael Hovnanian on double bass, John Meyer on electric guitar, and I’ll be playing whatever I happen to bring along. Two of those who also recorded on Montana Fix will be unable to join us Wednesday, but the significant contributions of Matthew Golombisky and Quinlan Kirchner are duly noted and appreciated!

Below are highlights from several reviews of Montana Fix that have been written. Two of them are in German, one in Russian, and the others are good olde English.:

“A lot of avant-garde bands will toss a bunch of disparate stuff together in hopes that they come up with exotic combinations that work. The Gunnelpumpers do that, too, but the difference with these guys is that just about everything they try actually does work. Gunnelpumpers have truly created a sound of their own that’s hard to categorize. They rarely stay on the main path, but that’s what makes Montana Fix such a thrilling listen. The Gunnelpumpers manage to make refreshingly original music when we’ve thought everything has already been done before.”
– S. Victor Aaron, Something Else! Reviews (Jul 19, 2013)

“Gunnelpumpers perform some of the most extreme forms of darkly Gothic, chaotic, confrontational, and dissonant music this side of John Zorn, John Cage, King Crimson, Univers Zero, Henry Cow, Velvet Underground, Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, Etron Fu Leloublan, and Samla Mammas Manna. If you’re looking for something a bit more challenging than the standard fare prog/rock you’ve been listing to – or happen to be an aficionado of R.I.O. then Gunnelpumpers and their album “Montana Fix” is well worth a listen. Especially fans of Crimson’s improvisational pieces.”
– Joseph Shingler, ProgNaut (Jul 18, 2013)

“Montana Fix” may make listeners aware of how to arrange exciting music for three basses, guitar and percussion.
– Siggy Zielinski, Babyblau Prog-Reviews (Jul 09, 2013)

“[Montana Fix] is a nineteen track album that takes some time and patience to appreciate. But if you are in the mood for something completely different, this is a great alternative album to put on the CD player. ”
– Mark Johnson, Sea of Tranquility (Jul 13, 2013)

“I regret that I had never heard Gunnelpumpers. I’m glad that it happened. And what you want.”
– Leonid Auskern, Jazz Quad Magazine (Jul 10, 2013)

“Double bassist Matthew Golombisky is credited on many songs with likeable noise (whatever that is), but it’s a term that could just as easily apply to the band’s experimental-yet-accessible sound.”
– Ron Schepper, textura.org (Jun 28, 2013)
“The highlight [of Montana Fix] is a ten-minute, hand-made piece of dark ambient, all real, earthy and rhythmic. A crazy journey, but very digestible by the subdivision into shorter pieces almost exclusively.”
– Michael We, NONPOP (Jun 08, 2013)

“[Montana Fix], the fourth full-length album, features close to 80 minutes (!) worth of music…and each and every second is interesting and provocative. There’s a lot to take in here…which means you can spin this one for weeks…months…years…and still find something new that you might have previously missed.”
– LMNOP aka dONW7, babysue (Jun 03, 2013)

“instrumental music of the highest order. Open-your-head music. An amazing, expansive mix of influences – classical, jazz, world music. [Montana Fix] is intense, moody, introspective, groovy, transcendent, atmospheric, mind-expanding. A great collection of grooves that roam across the sonic horizon. The collective vibe of this group is stunning. Inspired!”
– James Moeller, whitewolfsonicprincess (May 23, 2013)

My dad is having hip replacement surgery today, June 3. I’ll to be taking the week off work to help him out post-op. Please consider sending him lots of love/prayer/positive energy.

2013 Thus Far

On the musical front, the past several months have been insanely busy. After last Thursday’s concert with the Chicago Composers Orchestra, I had to look back and assess how busy it actually was. Since the beginning of the year, I have had approximately 38 rehearsals, 44 performances, three recording sessions, three fantasy baseball drafts, two rounds of golf, one major composition rewrite, one CD produced, one website facelift, one day job, not enough sleep.

One Major Composition Rewrite

“One major composition rewrite” refers to a re-orchestration and overall “tightening up” of a 14-minute soundtrack called “Die Wunderkammer” I wrote for the Sound of Silent Film (SoSF) in 2010. The film is “The Cabinet of Jan Svankmajer”, created by the Brothers Quay in 1984 as a homage to one of the great pioneers of stop-motion animation, Jan Svankmajer. The instrumentation for new version of Die Wunderkammer is flute, clarinet, violin, cello, piano and percussion.

Sound of Silent Film was started eight years ago by Seth Boustead and Access Contemporary Music (ACM), and involves living writing music for modern silent films, whereupon this music is performed live with the films. ACM is taking the Sound of Silent Film to New York City this coming week! The performance will take place June 7 and 8 at Anthology Film Archives at 32 Second Avenue in NYC. There has been some press leading up to the event, such as this article in The Villager, and some of the compositions were played on the Movies on the Radio program on WQXR, “New York’s Classical Radio Station.” So my piece, along with several other excellent works composed for this event, have been played on the largest major market classical music station in the country!

One final note about this Sound of Silent Film event is that ACM has started an Indie Go Go campaign to help ACM defray the incredible costs of moving this show to NYC. The plan is to ask 300 people to give ACM $20. Those small donations from everyone will really add up and help us ensure the event is a success and that all the musicians can get home. If you are or know someone willing to donate $20 to the cause of spreading contemporary classical and premiering great new music in the nation’s cultural capitol, the link is http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bring-sound-of-silent-film-to-nyc.

It has been quite the journey to bring this 19-song project to completion, and the end result is intended as a rewarding one for the listener. There’s no explicit plot or storyline, but the music travels to places far and wide. There’s even a track inspired by the “B natural” earth resonance frequency.

Upcoming Shows

Gunnelpumpers has three shows on the docket. Two newly scheduled shows have popped up recently, and take place in just two weeks. Saturday, June 15, we’re playing at a house party. If you are interested in going, please email me at gunnelpumpers@gmail.com.

Sunday, June 16, Gunnelpumpers has been invited to perform at the amazing new venue, Constellation, at 3111 N. Western Avenue. We’ll be playing a short avant-garde set as part of the MAVerick Ensemble and Friends concert. MAVerick artistic director William Jason Raynovich will be joining us on electric ‘cello! Additional details are on this Facebook event page.

The Montana Fix CD release show is scheduled to take place Wednesday, July 24, at Martyrs‘. Even original member, percussionist Doug Brush, will be in town all the way from New Zealand. By all accounts it appears that this will be a 17+ show as well.

While the “Golden Age of Gunnelpumpers” phrase has been heard before, this is truly an exciting time for us. I’ve been working like the dickens to totally redesign our web site, and it’s really coming together, IMHO. If you’re old enough to remember, it’s like the “New Marie”, but prettier.

There is a preview of our new CD, Montana Fix, that can be heard here. I’m absolutely thrilled about the album and would love for y’all to give it a listen. The release date is July 24, 2013, with a release party at Martyrs’ in Chicago. Please join us!

I’m also putting up as many live recordings of our shows as possible, sortable by the performers. As they say, “Every Gunnelpumpers show is like a snowflake: unique, impermanent, and beautiful, unless it’s a less-beautiful mutant snowflake.”

Please stop on by gunnelpumpers.com and click around and give things a listen. There’s always more to do, but that’s just an existential reality.